Natalie Halvorson leads Prairie past Estherville Lincoln Central

CEDAR RAPIDS - Near 90-degree weather and wind gusts up to 30 miles-per-hour can really put a damper on a softball game.

The rough conditions, however, didn't throw Natalie Halvorson off her game Saturday afternoon. The Cedar Rapids Prairie senior pitched the Hawks to a 10-0 win in six innings against Estherville Lincoln Central in the second day of the Prairie Classic Tournament at Prairie High School.

'I was just hitting spots, hitting my spots,” Halvorson said. 'When I hit my spots, good things will happen.”

The Hawks didn't waste time getting on the board, stealing home on a wild pitch in the first inning. They then added two more runs in the second and two in the fourth, quickly putting five runs on the board. The whole time, though, Halvorson kept the Midgets quiet offensively, holding them to just a handful of hits all game.

And, in the bottom of the fourth inning, Halvorson pulled the Hawks out of a tight spot. The Midgets had two runners on base with nobody out, and Halvorson took matters into her own hands, quickly gathering three outs to end the inning.

Prairie Coach Joe Yegge said he's seen a lot of improvement out of Halverson so far this season. He is limiting her to just pitching, though, not wanting his star pitcher to get hurt.

'She's getting better,” Yegge said. 'She's got some injury issues that she's fighting through that we have to watch and we have to kind of maintain her pitching, not overuse her too much ... we're trying to limit a lot of it. Not letting her hit, that type of stuff.”

Next season, Yegge and Halvorson will still be seeing a lot of each other. Yegge - who is also the head coach at Kirkwood Community College - recruited Halvorson to join his squad at the junior college level.

'We have a good connection,” Yegge said. 'She's been with me for five years here. I think the tradition we have over there helps, and she sees our pitchers doing well. So I think that helped a lot, considering she wasn't getting a lot of what she wanted in the offers.”

Halvorson said she knows it'll be a different atmosphere working with Yegge up at Kirkwood, and that the college game is a completely different atmosphere.

And while it will definitely be a challenge to adapt, Yegge said he thinks Halvorson will make an impact quickly with the Eagles.

'She can end up being really good,” Yegge said. 'I have her in the mix. We're going to hopefully have a (pitching) staff of three really good ones next year, and hopefully she's one of those three. Hopefully she's in the mix of the three kids we usually use every year.

'I told her, though, I don't promise her anything. She'll have to earn her spot. She's actually going to have to compete for the job ... she's going to have to work, and hopefully that actually makes her better.”

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